Christmas: TaylorKinney Style
by Katherine Cruz
Summary: It wouldn't be Christmas without a little drama... Gus Universe. Not part of the Gus series. Special Holiday Edition. BrianJustin, Alex, Gus and entire cast.


**Christmas: Taylor-Kinney Style**

"I have to wonder," I start to say, licking dripping cookie dough from a spoon, "if someone put a gypsy curse on us or something."

From the corner of my eye, I catch Alex roll her eyes and continue with her stirring. "That's silly, Gus."

I didn't expect her to actually respond to that. She's too fucking smart.

But -- I turn my gaze to Emmett whose looking at me, blank stare, hand frozen midway through his mixing of the batter. "Huh?"

Bingo.

"Well, I mean, come on. Sh-" I cut off, remembering that I had promised Dad that we'd hold back on the cursing around Alex, even though at this point I'm pretty damn sure she's trained herself not to listen. But I had promised so I edit myself. "Stuff always seems to just happen to this family, Auntie Em."

He starts to shake his head but pauses as he thinks about it. Deciding he was right, he gives his head one quick shake, gesturing at me to stop. "You're exaggerating."

I raise one eyebrow. "Am not." Taking one hand, I start to count off. "The Uncles win that great trip to Hawaii from the radio station…"

"And Uncle Mikey gets so sick they spend the whole trip in the infirmary." Alex finishes for me not glancing up from her project.

"Carl and Gammy Deb decide to buy the Diner…" I hold up another finger and Auntie Em's brow furrows before he continues with the sentence.

"And the board of health closes it down." It seems to really be hitting him now the possibility of a curse.

"Uncle Teddy buys that really nice house…" I bring up a third finger. "And it burns to the ground the next week." I eye him as I finish. "And now DJ is whacked out of his mind."

Emmett throws a towel at me, scolding. "Don't talk about your father that way."

I shrug. "It's true."

And it was. I was being a brat about it, I know. But it really doesn't seem like any of us can catch a break. This latest debacle in the Taylor-Kinney household was the prime example.

We had all apparently pissed off some deity somewhere.

Alex looks at me. "But Gus, you keep forgetting something."

I glance at her. Dad always says she's the yin to my yang…the good to my bad…if I'm the cynical one, she's the optimistic side that keeps it together…well you get the picture. "What's that?"

"Uncles Ben and Mikey managed to get free cruises for the next five years 'cause it was the food on the ship that got Uncle Mikey sick." She licks batter from her finger before she continues. "And Nana and Grandpa Carl proved that the whole closing down was wrongful - is that a word?" She glances at Emmett who looks at me.

"It's a word."

She nods and then says. "And they got to make the diner bigger so now they're richer."

I smile at that because…the logic of kids sometimes.

"And Uncle Teddy - Daddy said he got a lot of money for the house cause it was the fault of 'those goddamn F-word idiots in the city' something or other."

"And your point is what exactly, Ally-Mac?"

She glares at me. "The _point_ is that it always works out. It will this time. Dad will be fine. You'll see. Daddy will make sure."

"I'm don't know about that, kiddo."

She looks at me with certainty. "Gus. Remember what Dad says?"

I look away and mumble. "Have a little faith…"

The loft door opens and we all glance over. Dad enters, looks at us, and shakes his head. Nothing new to report. He glances behind at DJ, whose walking in slowly, still unsure and I grit my teeth.

This was fucking annoying and wrong and it was Christmas and we should be sitting on the couch at Britin watching stupid old movies while Dad pretends to complain and DJ tells him to shove it. Instead we're at the loft cause DJ doesn't remember anywhere else.

DJ smiles briefly at us, rushing past and up the stairs to the other level. It's been the same way for days and days. Dad sighs loudly, hands Emmett a bag with what I assume are his clothes. "Drew said to call him when you get a chance."

Emmett smiles at Dad and nods, moving away to use the phone in the living room.

I shake my head. "So nothing?"

"Nope." Dad sees Alex's face and reaches out, hugs her long and hard. "Don't look like that, Jitterbug." He pulls away, smoothing out her frown. "The doctor says it's normal and he thinks that Justin will remember soon."

"By Christmas?"

I see Dad hesitate before he answers. He doesn't like to lie but I know he can't bring himself to crush Alex's hopes that DJ will be okay soon. "It's always a possibility." Dad pushes away blonde hair from her eyes and kisses her forehead. "We can just keep hoping."

* * *

It's like something out of one of those stupid _Lifetime _movies that Auntie Em seems to love to watch. When it's happening on the television, it's funny and entertaining. When it happens to you, it's scary and not any kinds of amusing.

Truth be known, we still don't know what the hell went down exactly. DJ and I were putting up the decorations for Christmas at the house. Dad had gone inside to make a call and told us to wait until he came out. Of course, he knows better than to tell DJ what to do. Soon as he was out of sight, DJ climbed the ladder and started to arrange the lights.

I asked why we weren't letting some professional do it. Britin is a big fucking house. But DJ insisted we do the front entrance of the house ourselves each year. It was tradition from when I first remember being with them for Christmas. It made me smile and I got distracted. I looked at the newly fallen snow, thinking of the snowball fights that were inevitable and how Alex and I would have to start building a fort soon when DJ made a strangled noise. I turned in time to see something - I think it was shingle - fall on his head and knock him back. He was only a few feet up on so it wasn't a high distance to slip but he hit the ground hard though and I nearly had a heart attack.

Dad came running out from the house before I had even managed to get over to DJ. I don't know If it was the fall or from whatever had detached from the roof and hit him, but DJ's head was bleeding a little. Nothing horrible or anything. Just a cut but the look on Dad's face was scary. He kept calling DJ's name. He was pale and his hands were shaking when he pulled out his phone and called an ambulance.

I can't say I blame him. DJ has a history with head injuries and Dad was freaking out, so logically going to the hospital seemed the smart thing to do. We left Alex with Maria, the housekeeper, and Dad called Debbie on the way over, asked her to go to the house and stay there until we got back.

DJ was unconscious the whole ride but the paramedic guy said it didn't look too bad. He had probably just knocked himself out but good.

At the hospital, Dad was pacing the hallway and giving the evil look to every passing nurse, orderly or doctor, who when asked, had no idea how DJ was doing. There was some scuffle over Dad being allowed in to see DJ but then Ma showed up and waved around her "I'm a lawyer and a lesbian and this guy is family so don't fuck with him or me" card. That shut them up.

They let us in to see DJ who was awake when we got into his room. He looked a little lost but I figured who the hell wouldn't waking up in a hospital. His eyes widened a little when he saw Dad and he looked like he wanted to smile but…he didn't.

"Brian, what's going on?"

Dad took his hand as he answered. "You fell from the ladder, Sunshine. Scared the fuck out of us." It was then that I noticed DJ was tense and he took his hand out of Dad's slowly as he glanced at Ma, and his eyes flicked to me before returning to Dad.

"Why was I up in a ladder?"

"We were putting up the Christmas decorations, remember?" I had said in that stupid way you do when you don't realize that something is wrong.

DJ's eyes had narrowed a little, asking. "And you are--?"

I blinked. Looking at Dad then Ma then back to DJ. "That's not funny, DJ."

He scowled and glanced at Brian. "DJ? Who--What's going on? Was I putting up decorations at Michael and Ben's for Christmas?" He looked back at me. "You're a friend of Hunter's?"

It was then that the doctor intervened, explaining to DJ that he been hit on the head and taken a fall. He'd told him that it had affected his long term memory and things were a little muddled. Dad wasn't moving by this point. It was frightening that he could look so calm and so panicked at the same time. Ma had taken my hand and squeezed it. She and Dad exchanged some kind of silent parental conversation. When it over she nodded and pulled on my hand.

"Come on, baby. We'll wait outside."

I wanted to argue but she gave me that _look_ and I knew it was better for my health to go quietly. It wasn't long after, maybe half an hour, when Dad came out and took me outside to talk. He pulled a cigarette from his stash and I knew it couldn't be good. He only smoked when he was highly stressed out. Which okay, with that Dad was all the time. But it still meant something not good.

"What going on, Dad?"

He looked at me then. "Your father doesn't remember…the last decade." He kind of snorted when he said it but his eyes were dark which, well, when it came to Dad that's not a good sign.

I'm sure my mouth fell open at that moment but Dad ignored it and kept talking. He said DJ still thought it was, like 2005 or something. That the last thing he clearly remembered was being at Uncles Michael and Ben's house after leaving Dad.

"Fuck."

"You said it, Sonnyboy."

There was little else to say at that point. Dad said DJ wanted to see Grandma Jen so he had called her and I waited with him for her. It was twenty minutes when she came striding up and, after talking to Dad quietly for a minute, we all went back inside. Grandma Jen went in alone, Dad's choice I think, and when she came out almost an hour later, she said that DJ wanted to see Dad…and me.

I must have looked scared cause Dad patted my shoulder and guided me in with him. When DJ saw us both, his eyes kinda clouded over with something I'd never seen. It was like looking at a stranger and I hated it. He couldn't seem to decide which one of us to look at first, but after a minute he stopped at me.

"Gus?"

His voice cracked a little when he said my name.

I took a step forward. "Yeah. Hi, D…um…Justin." I looked at Dad and mumbled, "That is so weird." He almost smiled at me and I turned back to DJ. "Guess this is kind of strange for you, huh?" I rolled my eyes at myself. "Well that was a fucking understatement."

He blinked twice before looking at Dad. "He really is your son."

Dad nodded, ruffled my hair. "_Our_ son has a little problem with language but we're working on it, aren't we, Sonnyboy?"

"Hey, you said not around Alex…there was no talk about not doing it at all. That's, like, asking the impossible, Dad."

DJ was staring at both of us. "Alex? Who's Alex?"

That was going to be a problem I thought. Dad answered quietly. "She's our daughter, Justin."

DJ blinked again and just started to laugh, a little hysterically. "This is so fucked."

Suffice to say, we weren't thrilled at all about the situation but the doctor assured Dad and DJ that things would be back to normal, eventually. He said it might take a few days but it wasn't permanent. Just a bump. Right.

So, Dad took DJ to the loft, because the doctor said it would be best to go somewhere familiar and I went home to Britin to fend off explaining to Alex what was going on until Dad got there. When he did, he took her into the sitting room to talk alone. Gammy Deb just hugged me while we waited.

Alex looked determined when she came out. I helped her pack up some things to take to the loft and we all left. We dropped Gammy Deb off at her house cause Dad said Justin had enough to deal with. She slapped him in the back of the head but before she got out, she hugged him hard and told us all that she loved us.

I think Dad hoped that when DJ saw us all together something would click…but it didn't. He looked worried when we came in and Alex introduced herself. He smiled at her, at least, because well, she's Alex. But after he and Dad went up to their floor, Alex ran into my arms and cried.

I sighed, saying comforting things I wasn't even sure would happen.

This was going to be the suckiest Christmas ever.

There were several incidents…people thinking they were helping but not really. Uncle Ted made some stupid jokes and Auntie Em hit him hard for it. Uncles Michael and Ben offered to take us home but Dad said no.

"But, Brian. It's Christmas. The kids need to be able to enjoy the holidays."

Dad glared at him. "You think they'll enjoy them away from us, Mikey? We're still family."

"But--"

"We have shit we do, Michael. Traditions. I'm not changing that cause of fucking amnesia." He cleared his throat. "Justin will kill me if I break them."

Dad hated traditions but he put up with them for DJ…and now he was the one having to make them happen.

It was like Bizzaro world.

Auntie Em came to stay with us at the loft while this was happening. Someone needed to look after us while Dad tried to help DJ. They were spending time together, trying to get him to remember. Visiting places, looking at albums and videos that Aunt Molly and Grandma Jen brought over. Dad took him to the gallery so he could see what he had accomplished. Even Aunt Daphne flew down and tried to spend a few days jogging DJ's memories. When it didn't work, DJ locked himself in the small studio he had upstairs. Dad still had to work so Auntie Em it was.

We did all kinds of things to keep us occupied. Things we normally would do with DJ…We all tried to not bother him too much. Give him room. But that didn't seem to be helping because he retreated into himself.

I think the worst part was how surprised DJ was with Dad. He kept looking at him like he was this alien with two heads or something.

So after about a week, Dad threw his hands up in the air and declared that fuck all what the doctor's said, we were done walking around fucking eggshells and that if Justin had a problem with that it was too fucking bad.

I fucking cheered. DJ would hate us treating him like a child anyway.

So we stopped acting like this wasn't DJ and started doing all our normal everyday activities…with the addition of Auntie Em, of course. It started working too. I walked into the loft a few days later and caught DJ staring at Dad and Alex on the couch. She was showing him some of her new drawings, she's damn talented, and he was laughing at her stories about them. I hadn't heard him laugh since this whole thing started so it was a nice change.

"Does Ms. Thatcher know you draw her as a big slug with a skirt?"

She made a sound very much like one Dad would make as she looked up at him. "Daddy, please. I'd like to pass second grade, thank you."

Dad had hugged Alex to his side, laughing and shaking his head.

"Smartass." I called out and she grinned over at me.

I looked at DJ and in his eyes I saw something familiar, warmth and even laughter. He felt me staring and turned his head, smiling. "He seems to love her very much."

"Well, it's Alex, DJ." I shrugged. "She's you, so of course he loves her." I put my arm around his shoulder. "Like you love me cause I'm him." I winked at him before heading to my room to change.

Things were looking up.

Alex was growing impatient though. She got it from Dad.

"Maybe he needs another whack on the head"

I started to choke on the doughnut I was chewing on and gave her an incredulous look. "What?"

"Dad…maybe he needs to get hit on the head again. It might jiggle everything back in place."

"Or it could cause permanent damage, Al!"

She shook her head. "I don't mean anything…too hard. Just like, you know, a nudge." She had that look on her face and I glared at her. She didn't know what she was saying because…well she had no clue about DJ and the bashing or anything like that. Sometimes I forget she's only seven years old and that certain facts about Dad and DJ haven't been told to her. Doubt they ever would be. And I know she doesn't get how what she was saying…was wrong.

"Alexandra Mackenzie, don't you fucking dare hit your father on the head with anything."

"Did I say I was going to do anything…and hello, language. I'm telling Daddy."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah and I'll tell him you're going drop something on DJ's head." I sighed. "Listen, Al. Are you listening?"

"I'm listening."

"Just don't say something like that around Dad or DJ, okay?

She looked at me for a minute before asking. "Why not?"

I didn't know how much to say. "It's from a long time ago. Just…don't say anything like that. I know you were kidding but…trust me on this, okay, kiddo?"

She nodded. "Okay."

I wink at her. "I'm still going to keep my eye on you. Don't wanna have some flying object thrown at me."

She threw her spoon at me and laughed. "I never said I was going to do anything, Gus. It was just an observation." She wrinkled her nose at me and I mirrored the action, making her giggle a little.

I know someday she was going ask again.

It was going to be fine.

Dad was getting better…it would be no time now…

* * *

There's Christmas music coming from the stereo and the loft smells like cookies and cake. Auntie Em and Alex are checking on the baked goods. Dad is making a phone call and DJ is upstairs. Alex asks if we can make some popcorn and watch movies. I glance at Auntie Em in question. "Are you going soon, Auntie Em?"

"Not for a little bit." He motions to the living room, nudges Alex in that direction. "Go. Pick a movie."

She grins, starts to run, and stops halfway there to look at me with a huge smile. I raise one eyebrow, because I know that look. "What?"

She points up and I follow her finger but don't see anything. I hear her exasperated sigh. "No, listen."

I do and my eyes widen. "Oh no."

"Come on! It's tradition!" She runs back and grabs my hand, pulling me toward the open space between the dining room and living room. Our area down here was smaller than Dad and DJ's, mostly because when Dad had the loft redone, they had divided it to have two bedrooms and two baths. But we still had plenty of space and Alex likes that. She loves to dance. Dad says she gets it from DJ.

Auntie Em hides a smile behind his hand when I glare at him. If he laughs, I'll kick him in the shin, I swear. "This isn't funny."

"It is from where I'm standing, baby." Emmett turns up the volume on the stereo and I find that I have to start dancing to the beats and metal guitar of an old cover of "Jingle Bell Rock". Some weird early 2000 band whose name is Ant something or other.

Okay…so it's not as bad as dancing to the old ass version from half a century ago or whatever. I grab Alex's hands and twirl her around. There's laughter and music and it's fun and it almost feels like Christmas. I miss the fun with DJ. He's the one that gets the music cranking and the three of us dance around like fools. Dad only watches, rolling his eyes but usually smiling nonetheless.

I try to bump Auntie Em's hip when he sashays next to me and we laugh when we trip over each other. I glance at the corner and DJ is standing against one of the columns watching. I smile and wave, gesture for him to join. He smiles back but shakes his head. Dad's coming down the stairs and when he sees us, he stops for a moment. "What are you nuts doing?"

"What's it look like, old man?" I stick a tongue out at him, wiggling my hips the way DJ taught me. Alex has her hands in the air, twirling and singing along so I figure what the hell and join her.

Dad laughs a little. "Nice moves, Sonnyboy."

I'm not the best I admit but really…coming from him…that's just insulting. Auntie Em comes to my defense. "Ha! I don't think you have room to talk."

Dad raises an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Meaning…that no matter how brilliant you are at everything else…you suck at dancing, Dad."

Alex and Auntie Em start to laugh hard and Dad glares at me.

DJ snorts. "Good to know some things don't change." He grins over at Dad and they stare at each other for a minute before DJ breaks it and turns to look at us again.

Auntie Em is doing the "Praise Jesus" as he calls it and we're a burst of dancing and humming. When I look over, Dad is leaning with DJ against the column. I can almost make out what they're saying. I move just a bit closer and smile when I hear DJ ask Dad a question.

"Are we really this happy?"

I can see Dad look at him, this mixture of love and sadness before he answers. "Most days. We still fight. I'm still an asshole. You're still a brat. But…it works."

DJ leans his head on Dad's shoulder and I can almost hear the "Finally!" in Dad's head before he puts an arm around DJ's waist. "We did good, Sunshine."

DJ smiles. "I guess we did."

* * *

It's Christmas Eve and walking down Liberty Avenue, it's like Mardi Gras. We haven't done this for a couple years. Usually, after we volunteer at the hospice's Christmas Eve brunch (well, DJ, Alex and I volunteer…Dad usually goes off somewhere to talk budget with the manager…fuck if Brian Kinney does volunteer work, not even for Christmas…), we head over to Uncles Ben and Michael before going to dinner at Gammy Debs. But Dad wants to skip the Uncles today he says. Not in the mood for Mikey.

I think that's a good idea.

DJ pulls me back a step and I look over at him, letting Dad and Alex walk ahead. He's studies me for a minute, smoothes away the hair from my face and I smile at him. He's remembering without realizing it I think. "Are you okay?"

I nod. "Yeah, sure."

He gives me that look which says he doesn't really believe me and squeezes my hand. "Really? It's Christmas, Gus. I can imagine it's hard."

It takes me a minute to realize he means Mom and I feel a little guilty that I hadn't been thinking about her. Not that I don't. Everyday. But it's always in a good way. Almost never leaves me sad anymore. I wonder who told him about what happened. That had to suck to do. Which means it was probably Dad. "I miss her. But I know she'd want me to enjoy the day and not be upset." I put my arm around his shoulder. He's still a few inches taller than me but I'm catching up quick. "Anyway, you and Dad and Alex…make it better."

He grins at me. "This is surreal for me, you know that?"

I laugh. "Is it?"

He snorts. "I don't even know how Brian and I got here. The last thing I remember…let's just say, this life seemed impossible from there." He shakes his head and I shrug.

"People change. Dad's different. I mean, he's still Dad, but you know."

DJ sighs, mumbling. "I wish I did." He looks over at me. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

He worries his lip between his teeth and asks. "What does DJ stand for?"

Aha. I forgot I hadn't started calling him that until after he'd gotten back from New York. I shake my head. "Sorry. That's for me to know and you to remember."

He punches my arm and laughs. "Little shit."

Dad must have notice we'd stayed back because when I look up he's waiting at the corner with Alex. He motions to the ice rink they'd put up in the middle of the street. Liberty Avenue had the best fucking Christmas Fair. They close down the whole damn street and everyone gets to dance and skate and eat and…well…do things in the alleys that I should know nothing about but…

Heh.

Alex has a pair of skates already and I run over to help her put them on. "Hey kiddo. You want me to go in with you?"

She shakes her head. "No, I want to show Dad what I can do." She looks up at DJ. "You wanna see Dad?"

DJ kneels next to me and pulls down Alex's hat. "Of course I do." She stands and he pats her behind before she walks to the ice. Dad helps her until she has her balance and then she's off. I can see her doing her best to keep it together and I'm proud cause she's doing better than I would be.

"That girl can do anything, I swear." I lean again the rail and watch her float by, waving at us. Dad and DJ wave back, grins wide and it feels nice. I glance behind me at some ruckus a group of teenager are making. I roll my eyes. I fucking hate teenagers. Never mind, that I'm one…they still annoy me.

There's some weird noise and then I feel snow and cold on my back. Fuckers were throwing snowballs. One of them hits DJ hard on the head and Dad on the shoulder. The kids take off running and I can see that Dad wants to run them down. He turns to DJ, wiping away the snow and ice from his head. "Hey. Hey. You okay?"

DJ nods, rubbing the back of his neck with a gloved hand. "That fucking hurt, though." He shakes his head a little. "Damn. I need a bathroom."

Dad starts to guide him to the diner that's just at the corner but DJ stops him. "You stay here. Keep an eye on Alex." Dad doesn't like the idea of letting DJ go by himself so I tell him I'd go too.

Kiki waves at us when walk in and I start to ask if there's anyway we could use the back room to clean up when I hear a voice behind me.

"Justin? Is that you?"

DJ and I turn at the same time. There's this guy…dark hair, something growing under his chin, holding what looks like a viol--

Holy shit. It's the fucking fiddler. I recognize him from an old photo Uncle Mikey had shown me from that era. Time has not been kind to him. I mean he can't be any older than DJ and -- he looks tore up.

DJ tenses next to me and barely nods at him. "Ethan."

He's giving me this look -- like he's thinking really gross thoughts about who I am -- and then he glances back at DJ. "Hey, are you alone? Can I buy you a coffee?" He looks DJ up and down, in a look my best friend Mark would call "predatory" and I want to punch the asshole.

"Um…hello? Am I invisible?" I say and glare at him. "No, he's not alone."

DJ starts to say something but it's cut off by a very loud "Ow! Fuck! Fuck!" and he's clutching his head, sitting down on a stool.

I forget about the creepy fiddler and start to panic, telling Kiki to send someone to get Dad across the street. DJ clutches my sleeve, shaking his head. "Gus, no. No. I'm okay. It just…fuck that hurt."

I hold on to DJ's hand. "Dad is going to be pissed if I don't get him, DJ."

There's a vibrating coming from DJ and I think he's crying cause the pain is that bad. Fuck it. I'll get Dad myself if I have to. But after a minute I realize DJ is laughing.

Okay…he's lost it completely.

He crushes me in a hug and I pat his back a few times. "DJ…DJ…I can't breathe." I swear he learned this from Debbie.

He pulls back, pushing my hair back and grinning. "DJ…stands for Daddy Justin, right?" I'm grinning at him now and he laughs. "When you turned ten, you didn't want to call me Daddy anymore, cause you were too cool for that, so you and Lindsey came up with DJ."

We squeal and hug like a bunch of loons and Kiki is shaking her head at us. DJ starts for the door and I follow. The fiddler - Ian - whatever the fuck his name is tries to stop him. DJ glowers at him before he's out the door.

"Justin, are you okay?" He calls after him and I turn to glare at him. "What the hell is going on?" He's giving me the evil eye. "Who the fuck are you?"

I laugh at him. "I'm his son." I pat his chest hard. "And the rest is none of your fucking business. Merry Christmas!" Oh wait…he's Jewish. "Happy Hanukkah!"

I run outside and catch up to DJ in time to see him stop behind Dad. He's probably freaking out by now. When he senses DJ, he turns around but before he can say anything, DJ pounces. It takes a minute but Dad seems to realize that DJ is alright now. They're making out like crazy in the middle of -- I look around.

It's Liberty Avenue for fuck sakes.

I take my time getting there and ignore them to wave at Alex. Dad is telling DJ they should go to the hospital. I don't think DJ is into that at all. He shuts Dad up with another kiss. Alex stops at the rail and seeing the Dads, she tries to jump up and down, falling when she loses her balance. Laughing, I help her up and over the railing. She waddles over to DJ and hugs his knees.

"You remember me now, Dad?"

DJ picks her up and smushes his nose against hers. "I never forgot you, baby. I just…" He glances at Dad and smiles. "I just lost you for a bit."

Dad wraps his arm around DJ's neck and leans his forehead against his. "It's good you found us."

DJ smiles at me. "Yes it is." Kissing Dad, long and hard, he whispers. "Merry Christmas."

Dad grins, pulling back. "Merry Christmas, Sunshine."

Alex runs to me and I bend to pick her up, her arms wrapping around my neck. "See? I told you it would work out."

I shake my head and laugh. "Smartass."

She shakes her finger at me, making a face like Dad would. "Language, Gus."

I really start laughing now, and hearing DJ tell Dad about our run-in with the fiddler, I almost want to fall down. I had to tell them about the rest later.

I look at Al and jiggle her a little. "Hey. Merry Christmas, Alex."

Alex kisses my cheek and smiles.

"Merry Christmas, Gus."


End file.
